Monday, January 05, 2009

Low Res Big 2009 Preview, Part 1: The TV

I figure since I'm way too far behind (and kind of unethused about the product) to do a proper year-in-review for 2008's film and TV output, my resources (such as they are) would be better but towards looking ahead to 2009. And as Alan Sepinwall beat me to the punch in observing, 2009 looks positively bountiful with highly-anticipated TV.

Here's a roundup of the shows I'm most eagerly anticipating. Some less respectable than others.

Confessions of a Teen Idol (premieres January 4)You guys, I don't even know. I'm part of the problem, I realize, but these VH1 shows have a hold on me. And this one looks like a mix of The Surreal Life, Celebrity Rehab, and Charm School. Works for me. Most of the teen idols on display -- Christopher Atkins, Jamie Walters, Adrian Zmed, the kid from Baywatch -- don't really have any pull for me, nostalgia-wise. I mean, I remember Jamie Walters from 90210 but I never liked him. No, the only teen idol of this bunch I can actually look back at and say "Ohhhh yeah," is...Eric Nies. I know. Anyway, expect some laughs at the guys' expense, some unexpected pathos, and a whole lot of thinking Eric Nies is a real douchebag. Can't wait!

Damages (January 7)It's been over a year since the first season ended, and aside from the odd awards show, I hadn't given much thought to Damages. Then I re-watched the last couple episodes of Season 1 in preparation for its return, and I remembered: Oh yeah, this show was awesome. Yes, it lagged some in the middle episodes, and they'll want to watch out for that this time around. But Rose Byrne's character came a long way by season's end, so the burden won't rest entirely on Glenn Close this time. And the arrival of Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, and Timothy Olyphant ups the curiosity factor even more.

Real World Brooklyn (January 7)While the Sydney season sucked me back in, last spring's Hollywood season was a pretty sorry follow-up. But even if I was ready to give the show up again (and I'm not gonna sit here and lie to you that I would have), this edition, filmed a stone's throw from my old neighborhood, would have strung me along anyway. Not that I expect much of the out-of-the-house activities to take place in actual Red Hook, but New York geography porn is New York geography porn. And I'm gonna need to know who these fools are when they show up on the Challenges.

24 (January 11)Yeah, I figure I'll give this show a go. Again. Odds on my seeing the season through to the end aren't great, but Cherry Jones as the president intrigues me, and the part of the two-hour prequel movie that didn't involve U.N. representatives wetting their pants in cowardly fear were halfway interesting. We meet again, Kiefer. Show me what you got. One suggestion: now that they're bringing Tony Almeida back from the dead and thus the show has given up on being respectable TV, can't we resurrect Sherry Palmer to wreak some more havoc? Please and thank you.

American Idol (January 13)If David Archuleta, Taylor Hicks, Ryan Seacrest, Sanjaya, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and three seasons in the recapping trenches couldn't break me, I'm pretty sure nothing on this show ever will. There are even some indications that this season could be an improvement on the last few. Fewer audition episodes, more coverage of Hollywood week, and a regression to the 36-person semifinals like how it was in seasons 1-3. It remains to be seen if the talent pool will end up improving upon last season's bland entrants, but I'm in this as much for the conversation surrounding the show as for the show itself. Which means crappy singing, as ever, is not a deal-breaker.

Sober House (January 15)This would be the offshoot of VH1's Celebrity Rehab, where they follow selected rehabbers from Season 2 (plus the ever-unfortunate Mary Carey from Season 1) into their sober-living facilities. I was over the moon about Celebrity Rehab initially, and even thought Season 2 brought the questions of whether the rehabbers were truly looking to turn their lives around (Amber Smith; Nikki McKibbin) or just be on TV (Sean Stewart; Jeff Conaway's monstrous wife) into even sharper relief. But I still buy that Dr. Drew is looking to help people first and make TV second, and I'd defy anyone to say that they weren't affected by at least some of these stories.

Friday Night Lights (January 16)Now that Season 3 has aired on the rogue format known as DirecTV, it'll be coming back to re-air on real TV. Or, okay, NBC. Close enough. I've heard good things about this season, with phrases like "creative resurgence" and "among the best of the year." I'd be all about that. To be honest, the middling quality of season 2 really took the wind out of the show's sails, and out of my enthusiasm for it. I'm really hoping the spark comes back with these episodes. You know, so I can be devastated when it gets canceled.

Battlestar Galactica (January 16)I really don't have to say why, do I? The final episodes of my favorite show on TV. We've been told that questions will be answered, but we all seem to forget that the answers to these questions always tend to be the most emotionally damaging and harsh answers possible. Not that that's a bad thing at all, but it does make the impatience for these answers kind of funny. Anyway, I'm fully expecting all of my favorite characters to die (particularly Roslin, Anders, and at least one of the Cylon models), so that should be fun. Harrowing, painful, and fun.

Big Love (January 18)Man, it has been WAY too long since Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny, and Ginnifer Goodwin ran circles around Bill Paxton on my TV screen. It's weird that the mantle of HBO's Flagship Drama Series has fallen to this show, but it's certainly deserving. I wonder if Mark Olson and Will Scheffer will touch upon the Mormons v. Gay Marriage stuff that's been in the news lately or if the season was too far into production by the time that all went down.

Flight of the Conchords (January 18)This show kept creeping and creeping up on me in its first season, and I ended up really loving it. It's hard for a show like this to become appointment television because there's no compelling reason that I have to see it right away. But like HBO's other excellent comedy, Summer Heights High, it's a good one to keep stockpiled on the DVR and watch a few episodes at a time. And then go back and watch this a few more times.

The United States of Tara (January 18)I've already seen the first episode and wrote about it here. Toni Collette (yay!) playing multiple personalities within Diablo Cody's (hrm...) creative vision. It's been getting some really scathing reviews, which I don't entirely disagree with, but it feels to me like Tara is getting sucked down with the continuing Juno backlash. Like critics who felt like they were taken in by Juno suddenly felt on the wrong side of the "cool" divide and are now correcting that by being extra-harsh on this show. I don't know. Like I said, it starts off super annoying, but I thought it got very good by the end. Of course, True Blood got the same kind of reviews, and I liked that too, so...

Lost (January 21)Season 4 was an absolute rebirth for the show, and I couldn't be more excited going forward. Last season was such a fast-moving series of episodes (and who ever thought we'd say THAT about this show) that I'm gonna have to catch up on the more pressing plot threads that were left dangling. (Yeah, yeah, the island moved, but what was the deal with Farraday and Charlotte?) This is also the first time we're not hearing about big cast additions going into a new season. I think that's the sign of a sure-footed show going into its home stretch.

Dollhouse (February 13)Oh, this poor doomed show. I really don't like its chances of making it past a few episodes, even on Fox's Low Expectation Fridays. The idiots with Nielsen boxes will be clamoring for Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? before long, I'll bet. And when they do, I'll say it to Joss Whedon again: Sci-Fi Channel. Look into it. For all our sakes.

Reaper (March 17)I lapsed on this show last fall after the first season just took too long to kick into gear, but I have been assured by multiple sources that the show ended the season strongly and I should tune in for Season 2. The mid-March premiere makes me wonder just how long of a leash the CW is giving the show, and its Class of 2007 brethren (Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone) have been dropping like flies as of late, so it could probably use some support. So here I am, Reaper! Supporting you!

Kings (March 19)The premise (a modern rejiggering of the biblical story of King David) is probably too grandiose to stay on NBC for very long (again I say: to cable, o ye writers with vision!), but I'm totally down for it, and for the return of Ian McShane to series television. Even if the plot seems to be heavily leaning on the overworked-to-the-point-of-uselessness concept of the "butterfly effect." I'm not too sure about that blank-faced kid they've got playing David either.

Greek (March 23)The best show about teenagers (Gossip Girl doesn't count, as it's about 30-year-olds who for some reason go to high school) returns for a new school year. The leisurely pacing -- one school year took two and a half seasons -- has helped the show from running into silly logistical problems and instead focus on making simple, amusing, enjoyable TV. It's not breaking any new ground, but it's both likeable and, for a show that doesn't ever get dark, remarkably sugar-free.

Real World/Road Rules Challenge (???)Oh, we'll get to this once we have a premiere date. But just to get you in the mood, here's a link to this year's participants. (Isaac! Ruthie! Aneesa! Will cut you with words!)

I kind of can't wait for Inner Beauty -- it has like three levels of awesome. To wit, (1) Pretty people on my TV (2) being openly mocked (3) by people who are themselves worthy of being mocked.

And I totally agree about Lost -- even if I hadn't recapped it last season, it was still the one show each week that I totally wanted to watch as close to live as possible. I'm even more excited now that I'm free of the recapping burden.

Watched the highly anticipated (for me) premier of "Confessions of a Teen Idol" last night. Because I'm closer to 40 than 30, the older dudes in this group (Atkins, Huffsey, Zmed) held more fascination for me going into this show. And actually I've always had a soft spot for Eric Nies no matter how douchetastic he was in the RW/RR challenges.Joe, your description of the show as a cross between Surreal Life/Celebrity Rehab/Charm School is right on the nose.And God love him, Nies was so fawking awesome last night. Surprisingly, it's the two jokers from Baywatch (Chokachi and Jackson) that look like they're going to be the loose cannons. Can't wait!

You've got to give it up to Jackson for knowing himself on Confessions of a Teen Idol last night. "I don't think it'll be hard for me to live with six other guys because I've spent time in prison." That is what I call knowing yourself right there.

I'd recommend a DVD rewatch of season 1 of Reaper, partly cause the wandering at the beginning of the season doesn't seem so dull, but mostly because once Michael Ian Black and Ken Marino showed up, things got quite good.

Recently Viewed

Mission: Impossible - Ghost ProtocolThis was deeply stupid but a LOT of fun. It made me forget how creeped out I am by Tom Cruise, it nailed set piece after set piece, and it took the "A Really Great Episode of Alias" level of M:I 3 to the next step of being "A Really Great Alias Movie." In a year when so many movies just would not stop telling us about the magic of the movies and how films could let us see the impossible, Brad Bird stepped up to the plate and actually showed us. That sequence in Dubai is going to be tough for action movies to top for a long while. And I would honestly nominate it for Costume Design because every single person in that cast looked the most fuckable they ever have, and that's saying something. Jeremy Renner and Paula Patton, nice work. B / B+

The Girl with the Dragon TattooZodiac meets Seven without the latter's audacity nor the former's studiousness. OR ... the best season of The Killing ever. As a story, it's a smidge too obvious, and I seriously do think it's episodic enough to have been made into a TV series. And I don't want to get into a Gender Studies thing about Lisbeth -- and I could totally entertain ideas to the contrary -- but to me she was pure male fantasy, if a particularly badass male fantasy. Viewed in that light, the rape scene is less bracingly necessary than luridly opportunistic. But I'm not trying to say I was deeply offended by the movie or anything. It's a fun procedural with compelling actors in the lead roles (how does Daniel Craig's insane sexiness continue to sneak up on me?). Obvious casting in the supporting roles is a drawback, but overall, it was far easier for me to look past the story and appreciate Fincher's frigid aesthetics (that ever-present howling wind!) here than it was in The Social Network. B-

MargaretHere's where 2012 Joe apologizes to 2006 Joe, because I know how frustrating it is to live in the parts of America that just don't get limited-release indie movies that we get in New York. Because I complained and complained about not getting to see Margaret, and ultimately, it was put back into theaters and I got to take advantage of my incredibly fortunate geography to see it. Of course, after weeks and weeks of #teamMargaret, I was worried I'd been oversold on the movie, that I would walk out not getting what all the fuss was about. I'm happy to say I DO get what the fuss was about. It's not a perfect movie, but it packs a punch. The moment that drives the film -- a first-act bus accident that costs Allison Janney her life -- is legitimately harrowing, and it makes total sense that this would be traumatic enough to drive the plot of this sprawling tale (and to stand in for 9/11 when the movie's allegorical needs make it necessary). Anna Paquin's performance as a girl whose self-centeredness is almost feral is a marvel (and it connects a lot of dots for the way she's been playing Sookie on True Blood, to be honest). And the supporting cast is full of great performances and teen actors who would go on to become A Thing in the five years since this movie was made. Believe the hype about Jeannie Berlin's performance, too. She doesn't show up until halfway through, but her every line reading (which range from hilarious to scathing) is a winner, and she and Paquin make for one of the more fascinating screen duos in recent history. Lonergan has significant pacing issues in the latter half -- and my ass he couldn't find any scenes to cut; there are whole subplots and characters (Jean Reno; Matt Damon) who could have been trimmed and/or set aside for a director's cut -- but the script and the actors rarely step wrong. Here is a movie that bites off a lot of big ideas, about responsibility, about the limits of hanging meaning on the meaningless, and how Upper West Side teens can be just as monstrous and insufferable as their east-side counterparts. Also, if every five years we could get a new movie starring the 2005 version of Matt Damon, that would be just fine. Yum. B+

PariahThere's going to be a danger of overpraising this low-budget indie for being a low-budget indie, and for being about the kinds of characters and environments you don't usually get, even in low-budget indies. When it comes to black, teenage lesbians in lower-middle-class families in non-hipster Brooklyn, we're not exactly spoiled for choice, so for that alone, Pariah SHOULD be celebrated. And it's a very good movie, on its own terms. Adpero Oduye makes for a magnetic and fascinating lead, and the movie lets her life be about a lot of different things at once. Teen movies have a particular tendency to reduce their characters' pressures to just one thing, but Oduye has to deal with coming out and fears over her parents' crumbling marriage, and strained best-friend relationships, and a lot more. It's not a perfect movie -- some of the dialogue feels heavy and scripted, and I don't think Kim Wayans is all that great as the mom. But overall, it's really solid (and not nearly the suffocating bummer I've heard it described as). B

ShameIt's maybe ever-so-slightly more an acting showcase for Michael Fassbender than a cinematic masterpiece, but who's going to complain about settling for very, very good? McQueen digs deep into Fassbender's sex addict character in a way that's explicit but not salacious, and ultimately the joke's on us, because he really puts us into the mindset of a tormented guy unable to forge any kind of human connections. It's quite something. I could go on for about 10 more lines worth of prurient concerns (honestly, Fassbender is 30% penis by volume, I'd swear to it), and one fairly story-based quibble (McQueen really pusses out at the gay club), but for the most part, it's a total must-see. B+

The Week in TV:

Fringe (5/6)I have to say, this left me largely unsatisfied. Not the part about Peter at the end -- I'm confident that's going to get resolved in a way that'll open up season 4 in a big way. But that's actually part of my real problem: this whole episode didn't feel like a conclusion to everything Season 3 has built to but rather a beginning for the next arc. But without satisfyingly resolving what had been built up this season. Like we got an epilogue and a springboard into the next chapter without the actual climax. So much of this episode was spent trying to unbox everything we were presented in the flash-forward that by the time the actual action went down, we had less than 10 minutes to advance the plot in any real way. Still love the show, still think Anna Torv has had a breakthrough season, but this was a definite letdown.

Parks and Recreation (5/5)How does this show do it? What for all intents and purposes seemed like a purely goofy, guest-star-driven episode with Parker Posey as Leslie's rich-town nemesis (with a b-story about Ron Swanson desperately trying to avoid a birthday celebration in his honor) managed to arrive at no fewer than three emotional high-points. Not one of them felt like cheap sentiment, either, they were completely earned and true to the characters. That Leslie/Ron birthday scene was set up so slyly, it was like the twist ending of a thriller. This is what a show can do when it's built on such a strong foundation of characters. Well fucking done.

30 Rock (5/5)What a weird episode, with a random Kenneth moment at the end that I'd almost buy as an actual plot point considering how well it's supported by several seasons of "Kenneth is ageless" jokes. Liz being tormented by Tracy was funny, if honestly sad, and Jenna works best when opposite Will Forte. But really, this was all about Victor Garber, for me. Kudos to the show for nabbing such a great guest star for such a fun role -- I don't know why "wool" is so comedy-friendly a concept, but it just is. It's very wool.RuPaul's Drag Race (5/2)Not as explosive as past seasons' reunions -- the Shangela-Raven feud seems to be at least nominally active, but neither seemed all that invested in propagating it. ...Well, Shangela was, kind of. But besides one more tired rehash of the Heather vs. Boogers battle (my stance: the Heathers were throwing shade like good queens should; the Boogers took it personally because they're insecure and not seasoned; advantage: Heathers), and Alexis Mateo made a lame attempt to shame Michelle Visage for actually judging her, but mostly it was just a rehash of the season's big moments. The big story for me was confirmation that my love for Mariah was not misguided. She may have been eliminated for fully supportable reasons (she didn't have the chops when it came to performance), but she showed up with a killer face and a sparkling attitude. See you on Drag U, girl!

Game of Thrones (5/1)Damn it, Game of Thrones! You got me hooked last week with that sweet scene of Jon Snow gifting his lil' sister with a sword. Why won't you just let me love you?? This week's episode took two steps forward (Catelyn continues to be a character worth cheering for; Jaime Lannister suddenly has layers beyond the clichéd sister-fucking), but then two steps back with even more tedious political hoo-ha, more indistinguishable characters, and more of Joffrey and Vinerys, possibly the most one-dimensional characters on television. On the bright side, I really think that child-bride sex slave and her hulking rape-monster of a husband are gonna make it!